Occidental Chemical reports drop in earnings for the third quarter

12:02 PM MDT | October 25, 2012 | Lindsay Frost

Occidental Chemical, the chemical unit of Occidental Petroleum, reported earnings of $162 million for the third quarter 2012, down 34% year-over-year. The company says the drop in earnings is due to lower prices across most of their product lines, including in polyvinyl chloride and vinyl chloride monomer—partially offset by lower natural gas and ethylene costs. Sales for the segment were $1.1 billion, an 8% decrease from the year-ago quarter. The company says the decrease in earnings was also partially due to lower export volumes and prices because of...